US crude oil inventories down 0.3% for week ending April 28

By Firdevs Yuksel

ISTANBUL (AA) - US commercial crude oil inventories decreased 0.3% during the week ending April 28, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.

Inventories fell by around 1.3 million barrels to 459.6 million barrels, lower than the American Petroleum Institute's expectation of a draw of 3.9 million barrels.

Strategic petroleum reserves, which are excluded from commercial crude stocks, also fell by about 2 million barrels to 364.9 million barrels last week, the data revealed.

However, gasoline inventories increased by around 1.7 million barrels to 222.9 million barrels over the same period.

- Crude production increases

EIA data showed that US crude oil imports increased by 21,000 barrels per day (bpd) to around 6.39 million bpd during the week ending April 28, while crude oil exports fell by 82,000 bpd to about 4.74 million bpd.

US crude oil production, meanwhile, rose by 101,000 bpd to around 12.74 million bpd over the same period.

In the April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA forecast that crude oil output in the US would average 12.54 million bpd in 2023, up from 11.90 million bpd in 2022.

Crude oil output in the country in 2024 is forecast to reach 12.75 million bpd.